ECISD Migrant Education Program honors top ten students

EDINBURG – The Edinburg CISD Migrant Education Program recently honored its top ten migrant seniors during its annual banquet, which was held at the UTRGV CESS Building in Edinburg.

“Our Top Ten Migrant Senior Banquet is designed for all the top ten students from each of the four high schools,” ECISD Migrant Coordinator Patricio Rene Escamilla said. “This is a very special occasion to showcase the kids with their parents, and we bring a positive keynote speaker.”

This year’s keynote speaker was Dr. Valdamar Cevallos, a dentist and a former migrant student, who shared his life experiences of growing up in a migrant family.

“I was a migrant student back in 1989,” Cevallos said. “I went through the struggles that these kids have gone through. I just can’t say how proud and happy I am to be here and to be in front of such a great crowd.”

Dr. Cevallos shared with the 40 students, parents and others in attendance about the importance of education and how his father inspired him.

“My father was very inspirational in my life. Unfortunately, he wasn’t educated and we were migrant workers. It’s just one of those types of things where he instilled the faith, the respect that one needs to have, and it all goes through education,” Cevallos said. “So, education was the top priority in our family regardless of where we were. And that’s what I’d like to say to these students. That this is the beginning. They have very much more to go and I hope that they accomplish it.”

During the banquet, the students from their respective high schools were presented with plaques and special stoles.